How to beat writing apathy

Nowadays, a rising number of people agree that writing skills are every time more necessary to succeed professionally and to become an active member of society. Paradoxically, the most experienced and recognized teachers are retiring soon, so a new generation of writers must be encouraged and soon.

Learning to write is a very challenging task and teaching writing is not less difficult. In fact, it is so hard that we are always learning and applying new things. Anyone who rereads any writing they have done in high school, will observe a clear difference between the now and before. The same thing happens with students.

The collision of teaching perspectives

Teaching strategies are constantly evolving and educators constantly engage in discussions and debates on the focus that should be addressed in order to achieve the goal. Certainly, looking for the downsides of teaching and correcting them is an essential part of the process, but sometimes these discussions get so heated that the main objective is lost.

On the one hand, an important group argues that greater efforts must be addressed at teaching the fundamentals of writing, such as grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, parts of speech, among others; on the other hand, there are those who explain that the aspects that should be strengthened are the students’ spaces and opportunities to meaningfully express themselves and develop a creative voice that links their personal lives with literature. Nonetheless, it is important to keep in mind that teaching, in this case, must be aimed at an undistracted single goal and that is to teach writing.

Self-perception

One of the main problems is that students often perceive themselves as anything but a writer, discouraging themselves, and therefore failing to learn effectively how to write appropriately. In such sense, the teacher should positively encourage writing assignments every single day and be very careful to avoid unnecessary comments that might feed the negative self-perception.

Do not feed the negative self-perception

Over the time, adults often forget what is like to be a teen student, what is important to them and what is not. That’s why writing teachers should avoid returning feedback lightly, as they are usually focused on what the student did wrong. Instead, there are comments or questions that can turn the students work into a discussion that can lead to a further development of ideas.

Another important aspect to consider is the teacher’s authority. For a teenager, what adults say is important, especially if it is an authority figure, such as a teacher. Negative conceptions -and sometimes the lack of feedback- will further bury the student’s self-esteem about writing and even the hope to reach a minimum level with it. A way to change this may be the personal -or even public- recognition of the student’s intellectual contributions, leading to a better and stronger self-esteem and academic writing.

Motivate students

Apathy can be a little infectious. In fact, teachers often feel discouraged when students do not show interest. However, the best remedy to encourage students usually tends to be positive action and building trust. Although this might sound easy, it actually is more complicated than words can explain.

Students have to understand that their ideas can promote changes and the best way to express paradigm-shifting ideas is writing. Topics play an essential role here, as they need to feel passionate about what they are writing, otherwise they will not have compelling arguments or carefully chosen words.

Fostering risk-taking in writing

In English class, the lack of encouragement can result in safe, repeating sentences that do not let them develop, grow and overcome their past hinders. Sometimes, it is necessary to give them permission to break the rules, to change their own paradigms, to have an introspective sight in order to create something new and beautiful that defies the definition of normal. Some of the most quoted sentences have challenged, at some point, the very same conventionalism that did not let those words be expressed.

The audience matters

Also, students feel the need to be heard, sometimes by their classmates and sometimes by a wider audience. What is important here is that they can communicate with the rest of the world and create connections with those that surround them.

Similarly, students also need to receive feedback, not only in red ink, but also comments, questions and other tools that let them make a self-assessment and refine their writing. This action leads to higher grades, mainly because they feel supported and motivated in the process.

Persistence is key

In this modern world we live in, we do not give ourselves enough time to wait or work for long enough to follow small changes. In the case of writing, practice, persistence and time are key in order to see important results. It is important not to rush, but also not to stop doing it. At some point, the difference will be observable and important progress will be made. This advice applies for the student and for the -probably- frustrated writing educator who does not see results in a timely manner.

Final thoughts

Improving writing skills is a long, difficult path we all have to go through. Effort, time and motivation are our best allies in this process. That is the main reason why teachers should always work from a positive perspective and do not fall in the errors of feeding the negative self-perspective of discouraged students, even if they look apathic toward writing.

In addition, an important step is to recognize whenever we have .challenges ahead and then look for help to create the conditions necessary to overcome such difficulties. In that sense, we recommend an essay writing service that will help students improve their writing skills and grades.

Essay writing service recommendations

Currently, it is understandable that youth are facing many things in their lives and they need some help to achieve their goals. It is very common to see students in need of free time or money, and sometimes even both. In that case, there are online solutions that can assist their way to success, such as EssaysMatch.com.

In this website, students will find experienced writing professionals that can walk them through the entire process. They just have to answer some general and individual questions about their specialization, hobbies, interests, literature and writing preferences to guide them through and help them reflect their attitude and personality in works of high quality without discouraging their teachers or themselves.